The Supreme Court is more influential than ever. The Roberts' Court is currently re-shaping this nation's laws. It is shaking the very foundation of our former democracy. From Citizens United to its momentous rulings regarding Obamacare and gay marriage, this Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has profoundly affected American life. Yet this court remains a mysterious institution. The motivations of the nine men and women who serve for life are often obscure.

Political gridlock, rapid cultural change, and major technological progress mean that the court's decisions on crucial topics-including free speech, privacy, voting rights, and presidential power-could be uniquely durable. Acutely aware of their opportunity, the present justices are rewriting critical components of constitutional law and revising the basic ground rules of American government. Laurence Tribe, long one of the country's leading constitutional lawyers - and Matz dig deeply into this court's recent rulings, going well beyond tired debates over judicial "activism" to draw out hidden meanings and silent battles.

They explore exactly how the Court's approach to immigration, the vaunted war on terror, GPS tracking, and secret usage of databases of everything from our DNA to our phone records will affect our privacy rights and presidential power itself in these increasingly unstable years.

Laurence Tribe has taught constitutional law at Harvard for four decades and has written widely about the law. He has argued dozens of cases at the Supreme Court, including the first argument in Bush v Gore.

Norman Solomon is a journalist, media critic, antiwar activist, and was a candidate in 2012 for the United States House of Representatives.